Minor League Update – June

The time has come for our June Minor League update.  A few of our little fellas are growing up right before our eyes, while a few struggle to find their way in the minors.  The previous monthly updates can be found here:  April, May.  Let’s dive into it:

Madison Bumgarner

The huge early career that Madison has experienced has certainly continued into June.  Last month’s update included a promotion to AA Connecticut.  This month’s update includes extremely strong AA stats.  Since last month’s update, he is 2-1 with an ERA under 4 at AA.  He is averaging close to a strikeout an inning.  His only knock thus far would have to be his inability to pitch deep into games, as he has yet to pitch more than 6 innings at AA yet, likely due to a strict pitch count/inning limit.  Just in case there wasn’t enough excitement over Bumgarner yet, Giants GM Brian Sabean strokes the proverbial fire by recently saying that Madison is close to being MLB ready, intimating that he may skip a level soon.  Let me do some maths for you; currently in AA, skip a level, carry the one and yup, we just may see him in San Fran by season’s end.  The only reason to possibly hold him back would be that the Giants have a second uber prospect in catcher Buster Posey, who will be heading to AAA very soon (jumping from high A himself).  Allowing the two to grow in their careers together could be valuable in transitioning Madison to the bigs.

Lars Anderson

Lars Anderson’s disappointing continued in the second half of May and in early June.   He remains at AA Portland, where he’s hitting .258 and slugging .410.  His OBP is strong at over .340, but the 7 home runs are quite disappointing.  He is, however, sporting a serious split, as his OPS is almost .200 points higher against righties, than against lefties.  He is going to need a strong second half to remain the highly touted prospect he was last year, when he had a .962 OPS in Portland.  At 21 years old, he is by no means old for AA, so spending the rest of the year getting his groove back will certainly not kill his trajectory.  Given that David Ortiz is hitting serviceably for the Sox, there is less urgency for his improvement.

Neftali Feliz

Neftali continues to confuse his fans.  He has not been able to string together several strong starts in a row, though his overall line is still impressive.  Is he bored in AAA? Is the working on improving a pitch or two, and thus not focusing on his best pitches?  Its hard to know as the Rangers have been pretty quiet with their Neftali plans.  He stands at 2-5, with a 3.51 ERA.  His 44 strike outs in 48 innings is a strong indication of what he is capable of, as is his 16 strikeouts against 2 walks over his last four starts.  Of course he is just 1-2 in those starts as he allowed 4 earned runs in two of them.  Similar to Bumgarner, he hasn’t pitched 7 innings in any of his last ten starts, so the reigns seem to be pretty tight here too.

Colby Rasmus

Colby Rasmus continues to get significant playing time in the Cardinals outfield as he has amassed 211 at bats, hitting second the majority of the time.  The early part of June has seen much improved play from Rasmus, who has hit .358, with an OPS of .955 thus far. While walking more frequently would make him much more valuable, his ten runs and nine RBI this month have been solid contributions.   He continues to play in CF the vast majority of the time.  Like Anderson, Ramsus has a significant righty/lefty split, as he is hitting over .310 against righties, while only hitting .114 against the lefties.  It will be something he has to work on to avoid being a platoon outfielder; should he work that out, he will be a Cardinal’s outfielder for the foreseeable future.

Andrew McCutchen

Welcome to the big show, Andrew McCutchen!  As discussed here almost everywhere in the blogosphere, the Nate McLouth trade to the Braves opened a spot for McCutchen in the Pirate’s outfield, making him the second of our five to make the Bigs.  Since debuting  June 4^th, McCutchen has dazzled, doing his best to never have to return to riding busses around the Midwest.  He is hitting .333, with a .904 OPS.  The speed I continuously harped on in my previous posts?  How is 5 triples in 78 at bats, including two in one game, and a run of three straight games with one.  He is 2-2 stealing bases, too.  A great start to his big league career by all means, though, of course a few more walks would be much appreciated, the youngsters always seems to struggle with that.

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